1050
The Berber peoples of northwest Africa
The Berber peoples that have been indigenous to northwest Africa since 2000 B.C. are still living in that area but are broken up into tribes and no longer have great kingdoms like they once did during the Roman era
There is division among them and this is when Ibn Yasin arrives on the scene (around this year); He lives in the ribat of Waggag ibn Zelu (ribat is Arabic for “fortification”) where he meets a chieftain named Yahya ibn Ibrahim, “who was in the search of a Malliki teacher for his people, believing that orthodox customs were being forgotten"
With ibn Ibrahim, ibn Yasin was radicalized, and began to win over people to his faith, calling for the abolishment of the current ruling government
At the time, the Maghreb and Al-Andalus area was split between multiple kingdoms, in control of three main factions, the Zenata in control of the north, the Masmuda holding central Morocco, and the Sanhaja, concentrated in two main areas: the Western Sahara and the Eastern Hills of the Maghreb
Ibn Yasin sought to consolidate the Berber Muslims under one banner, his own, and to this end went to the nearby Lamtuna people; there he found a large base of support, raising a large number of people behind him, adherent to his views of the Quran and how it should be interpreted and enforced
By reciting stories of the early life of the prophet Muhammad, Ibn Yasin preached that war and conquest were required for strict adherence to Islam; he further said that it was not enough to simply adhere to God’s law, but also necessary to eradicate opposition to it;
Under Ibn Yasin’s ideology, anyone and anything outside Islamic law could be taken as “the enemy;” he specifically identified the Berber practice of tribalism as a major hindrance to the formation of a cohesive empire; he believed that it was absolutely necessary to unite the Muslim tribes, if they were to be forged into a powerful whole” (thinkafrica.net)
1051
1052
1053
Ibn Yasin’s first campaign takes place (thinkafrica.net) and now it “was the Arabs, who enlisted Berber warriors for the conquest of Spain, who nevertheless gave those peoples a single name, turning barbarian (speakers of a language other than Greek and Latin) into Barbar, the name of a race descended from Noah
While unifying the indigenous groups under one rubric, the Arabs began their Islamisation [of North Africa]
From the very beginning, Islam provided the ideological stimulus for the rise of fresh Berber dynasties. Between the 11th and 13th centuries, the greatest of those—the Almoravids and the Almohads, nomads of the Sahara and villagers of the High Atlas, respectively—conquered Muslim Spain and North Africa as far east as Tripoli (now in Libya)” (Encyclopedia Britannica)
1054
1055
RULERS & ROYALTY: Gruffydd ap Llywelyn becomes sovereign of all Wales
1056
1057
RULERS & ROYALTY:
1058
RULERS & ROYALTY:
William VII the Brave, Duke of Aquitaine, dies and is succeeded by his half-brother, Guy Geoffrey, who took the title William VIII (d. 1086)
1059
The pope decrees that lay investiture was unlawful in the eyes of the church (No one, including kings can appoint clergy, only the pope/Rome) (British Kings and Queens, pg. 67)
1060
RULERS & ROYALTY: Philip I (House of Carpet) becomes king of France
Edward the Confessor begins building Westminster Abbey and Westminster Palace (1,028 years after the resurrection)
1061
Hohenzollern House in Germany is mentioned, “Wezil et Burchardus de Zolorin” (today there is a castle built in the 19th century) (see next: 1267)
1062
1063
1064
1065
Westminster Abbey is completed by Edward the Confessor
1066
William the Conqueror Invades England
September 28 William the Conqueror begins his conquest
October 14, William the Conqueror defeats Harold at the Battle of Hastings on then turns to Dover, he takes the town, burns it, and builds fortifications there
William the Conqueror then heads to London for his coronation, which takes place on Christmas day in Westminster Abbey (the House of Normandy 1066—1154),
The same year William the Conqueror builds castles at Pevensey, Hastings, Dover, Canterbury, Wallingford, Berkhamsted and London,
Pevensey Castle was built as soon as William landed in England for his conquest; it was built within the west gate of a Roman fort called Anderida (later in history it was used to house military billets and machine gun posts during WWII),
At the time William built the castle, there was an Anglo Saxon burgh there, or fortified town, on top of the Roman fort (Castles, Palaces, and Historic Homes, pg. 22)
Edward the Confessor dies (buried in Westminster Abbey)
1067
RULERS & ROYALTY: William I the Conqueror is king of England
William FitzOsbern, childhood friend of William the Conqueror and veteran at the Battle of Hastings, begins work on his stone castle at Chepstow in south-east Wales as a base for Norman penetration into Wales;
"The castle was built in a strategic position—a long, high cliff overlooking the River Wye and the place where the Roman road from western England into South Wales forded the river. Its principle building was a stone Great Hall, initially of two stories; this was altered in the 13th century, but its original walls are still standing, making it Britain’s oldest surviving stone castle building.”
(Castles, Palaces, and Historic Homes, pg. 28)
1068
RULERS & ROYALTY: William I the Conqueror is king of England
York Castle is built by order of William the Conqueror, of which only the now-ruined keep still stands and is known as “Clifford’s Tower, he also founds castles at Warwick, Nottingham, Lincoln, Huntington and Cambridge
1069
RULERS & ROYALTY: William I the Conqueror is king of England
William the Conqueror launches his “harrying of the north” in response to a rebellion
1070
RULERS & ROYALTY: William I the Conqueror is king of England
1071
RULERS & ROYALTY: William I the Conqueror is king of England
William FitzOsbern’s castle at Chepstow is completed, but he is killed in a battle in Flanders, and the castle is handed down to his son Roger Fitzwilliam (he loses it in 1075)
The Moroccan city of Marrakesh (English spelling) or Marrakech (French spelling) was founded by Yusuf ibn Tashufin of the dynasty of the Almoravids (Sunnite Muslims), and it survives as the Almoravid capital until it falls to the Almohad Caliphate in 1147
1072
RULERS & ROYALTY: William I the Conqueror is king of England
1073
RULERS & ROYALTY: William I the Conqueror is king of England
1074
RULERS & ROYALTY: William I the Conqueror is king of England
1075
RULERS & ROYALTY: William I the Conqueror is king of England
William the Conqueror founds Windsor Castle, during a doomed uprising against William the Conqueror, Robert Fitzwilliam loses Chepstow castle which reverts to the crown
1076
RULERS & ROYALTY: William I the Conqueror is king of England
William the Conqueror orders the rebuilding in stone of the original earthenwork castle in London,
Norman monk Gundulf begins building Colchester Castle on the site of the Roman Temple of Claudius (Castles, Palaces and Stately Homes of Britain and Ireland, pg. 14)
1077
RULERS & ROYALTY: William I the Conqueror is king of England
1078
RULERS & ROYALTY: William I the Conqueror is king of England
1079
RULERS & ROYALTY: William I the Conqueror is king of England